Raise taxes for communities

Thursday

Mar 7, 2013 at 6:00 AMMar 7, 2013 at 9:11 AM

By Mary S. Keefe

Across the nation and here in Massachusetts, we are experiencing a time of tremendous need and economic crisis that is urgent in terms of the wellbeing of our families, our young people, our elders, our most challenged and the least among us.

The lifelines that we count on to ease hardships and make for a better life have become frayed and have unraveled. These lifelines are the services and functions funded by government that keep us going in difficult times, that uphold and protect our infrastructure, and that promote opportunity and self-sufficiency. They are the essentials of our society that protect and provide for a good quality of life for everyone — even in a struggling economy.

These lifelines replace despair and give us hope for something better for our future and the future of our children.

The time is urgent. I ask you to support An Act to Invest in Our Communities, which raises the Massachusetts income tax from 5.25 percent to 5.95 percent while simultaneously increasing the personal exemption to hold down increases on middle-income families.

These tax reforms will make our tax system fairer and allow us to invest in the lifelines that make our communities strong.

Over the past 30 years, Massachusetts has gone from being a high-tax state to a state that is in the middle of the pack. We adopted Proposition 2½, which capped property tax collections, and in the 1990s and 2000s we cut state taxes by decreasing the income tax.

Between 1998 and 2002, we enacted tax cuts that have translated into a loss of $3 billion in yearly state revenue. When we look at state and local taxes as a percentage of personal income, Massachusetts is at 10.2 percent, while the national average is 10.6 percent. We are still far lower than half of the country, including Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, Maine, New Jersey, New York, Delaware and Pennsylvania.

So, the term Taxachusetts doesn't apply to our state any longer.

Across our commonwealth the needs are great. The recession and the lack of revenue caused by cutting taxes has created budget shortfalls that have forced us to cut spending on state programs across the board, including: education, 10 percent or $433 million; early education, 24 percent or $15 million; higher education, 32 percent or $448 million; local aid, over 40 percent or $668 million; environment and recreation, over 25 percent or $158 million; public health, 23 percent or $158 million.

We have done this at a tremendous cost to our quality of life, jeopardizing clean water from our faucets; safe neighborhoods and emergency response,;quality education and good schools; affordable college and job training; prevention strategies that help our young people make healthy decisions; maintained beaches, parks and natural resources; public health programs, affordable and accessible transportation and good roads and bridges that allow us to work, make commerce and thrive.

An Act to Invest in Our Communities will hold down increases for low- and moderate-income families and individuals and ask more of those who can contribute more. The bill would increase the income tax while simultaneously increasing the personal exemption. The bill also raises the tax rate on investment income to 8.95 percent, with an exemption for low- and middle-income seniors.

If passed, this bill would both make our overall tax system more fair and raise $2 billion that can be invested in our communities.

Last year, I ran for a seat in Massachusetts House of Representatives representing Worcester's 15th District. I was sometimes referred to as the “tax candidate” because I support raising the income tax and increasing the personal exemption as a smart and fair way to raise revenue and meet the needs within our communities.

Because of this stand, many said I'd never win, but I did. The voters know that with good will and hard work we have the power to do the right thing. Let's join Gov. Deval Patrick in a proposal to raise revenue to invest in the things that make Massachusetts a great place to live, work and raise a family — things like affordable higher education and repairing our transportation system.

As citizens yearning for our common wealth, let's put our shoulders to the economic situation that we are in and start turning this around so that Massachusetts leads. You have my commitment, as a representative at the Statehouse, to work hard and to be accountable in seeing our tax dollars contribute to the creation of and investment in the communities that we want.

State Rep. Mary S. Keefe represents the 15th Worcester District in the Legislature.